Last week the World Series finally ended, our nightmare season is finally over and the Hot Stove season has started. There have been trades already, options picked up or bought out and players have filed for free agency. Trade rumors are already out there, most of them so far unfounded this early and it’s only November 10th.
Last week after the World Series the Mets decided rightfully so to decline the 9 million dollar option they had on relief pitcher J.J. Putz and bought out his contract for 1 million dollars. It’s a move that was not surprising at all, we all knew that when Putz was traded to the Mets last winter that the Mets were not going to pick up an option for 9 million dollars, that much money is too much for a setup guy. Unfortunately for the Mets Putz had a horrible 2009, capped off with having season ending surgery.
There is no doubt that Putz came here to the Mets last year ready to help them win, knowing that he would be the 8th inning guy, the guy who would setup for K-Rod. Putz knew that he would be playing the 2009 season for a contract with a new team, a team that would hopefully make him a closer again. His plans like our 2009 season didn’t work out so well, he is now a free agent relief pitcher coming off of a surgery on his pitching arm. The Mets didn’t do any favors for Putz as they made him get a cortisone shot instead of getting surgery that he wound up getting anyway.
Putz has to know that he is not going to make a lot of money and that he may not even become a closer on another team. The Mets are in the market for a setup guy,preferably cheap so they can fill other holes for 2010. Enter J.J. Putz. The Mets could give him a low guarantee contract with performance based incentives. Putz would be in the same situation he found himself entering 2009 in that he would playing for a contract for the next season and will be providing a much needed bridge to K-Rod. Now I won’t bash the Mets if they don’t go out and sign Putz as he is a risk but I think with a low free agent class and a questionable amount of money available for the Mets Putz is an option that Omar and the Wilpons need to keep on their minds when building the bullpen for the 2010 season.
I disagree with you and I would like to explain why. If the Mets were to sign Putz even to an incentive laden deal, they would be doing so sight unseen. Considering how we all knocked the Mets around for building a team with so many older or injury prone players, how can we now ask them to sign a pitcher who hasn’t thrown a pitch since last May? That’s just asking for trouble. With so many other relievers in the free agent market, why go after one that could end up blowing up in our face? Dont we have enough injury concerns??
Will Johan’s bonespur surgery end up being like John Maine’s bonespur surgery from last offseason?
Will Jose Reyes ever be the same player?
Is Oliver Perez coming back?
Did Beltran’s bone bruise heal all the way?
What about Jon Niese? Or Fernando Nieve?
We dont need to add Putz into an already cloudy situation.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
WILLIAM U MAKE AN EXCELLENT POINT; HOWEVER I THINK U MAY BE OVER EXAGERATING THE DEVASTATION POTENTIAL OF AN INEFFECTIVE PUTZ, WE’D STILL HAVE STOKES,PARNELL,FELICIANO IN THE PEN THE UPSIDE MAY BE MUCH GREATER THAN THE DOWNSIDE. WITHOUT JJ THE PEN IS ACCEPTABLE, WITH AN EFFECTIVE JJ IT’S DOMINATING. NO? BASICLY IT’LL ALL COME DOWN TO WHETHER HE ACTUALLY CAN THROW THAT DEVASTATING SPLIT WE NEVER TRULY GOT TO SEE.
I agree with you on all your points and like I said in my post if they don’t sign him then I’m not going to berate them, he’s someone who we should consider. Like Mets62Fan says an effective Putz in the bullpen on a low guarantee with incentives makes the bullpen one of the best pens in the majors.
This guy has had success before, he’s put up some real good numbers before. If everything last year was because of his injuries then he is definitely worth a shot to look at.
BAYONNE, U QUESTION EFFECT OF INJURIES? HOW ELSE WOULD U EXPLAIN ’06,’07,’08,PRE-DEVASTATION ’09? RE. NYM/PHILLIES
’06 WE BURIED THEM
’07 & ;08 WE ASSISTED THEIR CATCHING UP UP TO US, LATE.
’09 WE WERE IN FIRST PLACE WHEN BOTH DELGADO & REYES WENT DOWN THE SAME WEEK
BASICLY WITHOUT OUR HELP THE PHILLIES CONTNUE THEIR LOSING TRADITION HOW ELSE, EXCEPT FOR THE LOSS OF OUR STARTING 1B,SS,CF,RF ALL SIMULTANEOUSLY AS WELL AS OUR #1,#3,#4,#5 SP ALONG WITH #1 SETUP OPTION AT SAME TIME. WHAT TEAM IN ANY SPORT DURING ANY CENTURY ENDURES ALL OF THAT, YET STILL DOESN’T END UP LAST WHILE STILL MAINTAINING SOME VIABILITY FOR SOME TIME. HOW MANY GAMES WERE THERE WHEN THE ONLY NON-REPLACEMENTS TAKING THE FIELD WERE CASTILLO & WRIGHT? 12 MAN ROTATION? WHO DOES THAT? 4 SS? AND WE NEVER DID GET TO SEE OUR #1 BACKUP MIDDLE INFIELDER, ANDY GREEN, SINCE HE WAS D/L’d AT THE SAME TIME AS WAS ALSO F-MART. WE ACCOMPLISHED USING 12SP,4SS,4C,3-1B,3RF & ONLY HAD TO GO OUT & ACQUIRE 1 MIDLE INFIELDER FROM OUTSIDE(DUE TO GREEN INJURY). BTW, I CALL THAT DEPTH WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION. NO, IT’S NOT PROSPECTUAL DEPTH; BUT THERE WERE VERY FEW “LIMA TYPES” CALLED IN. IT WASN’T PRETTY, IT WAS BARELY TOLERABLE. HOPFULLY IT WILL SERVE TO MAKE THE RETURNING PLAYERS MORE LUSTFULL TO FULFILL THEIR DESTINY AS THEY WERE IN ’06.
SOME TRY TO LAY BLAME ON AGE, WHO’S OLDER NYM OR PHL? PHL! IT WASN’T AGE; BUT “ACT OF GOD” STUFF. GETTING STRUCK NY LIGHTNING USUALLY ISN’T CAUSE TO BLAME THE VICTIM. IT’S TOUGH TO COME FACE 2 FACE WITH OUR VULNERABILITY AT THE HANDS OF MORE POWERFUL FORCES. LOST IN ALL OF THE RUBBLE ARE A COUPLE OF HIGHLIGHTS, IN SPITE OF ALL THE NON-REGULARS THE TEAM’S .270 BA TIED FOR #1 IN NL WITH LAD & THEIR .278 RISP WAS STAND ALONE #1 IN NL ONLY .001 BEHIND WS CHUMPIONS.(& SOME WANT HOJO GONE?) AMAZING WHAT THE ANTI-NYMET PRESSCORPS DOESN’T TELL U.(EVEN SNY IS BASICLY ANTI-MET, PRO NYY. AND WHO RUNS SNY? ‘LIL JEFF!)) I’M TELLING U GUYS U MUST OCCASIONALLY LISTEN TO OPPONENT BROADCASTS OF OUR GAMES TO REALLY APPRECIATE US. NY SPORTSPRESS LIKE US AS MUCH AS CALIFORNIA LOVES BILL O’REILLY, SEAN HANNITY & RUSH LIMBAUGH!
If the Mets can sign Putz cheap, that’s $2mil or less, fine. Otherwise goodbye. They should not get into any thought of a bidding war with anyone over him. He’s already got $1mil of Mets money in his buyout and that should be treated as a fix cost that is not relevant to the signing decision.